Ear Cleaning Photo Essay
With the recent posts on ear cleaning I finally kicked my butt into gear  and prepared the text for my far too long under-construction ear cleaning photo essay on our website. With Michele's webmaster skills  the photo essay is now completed and up - subject to inevitable minor text editing  . I hope this will prove to be a useful guide to new members and those learning to clean their dog's ears for the first time.
Just go to our home page via the www button at the end of this post . Then click on the Ear Cleaning Photo Essay link in yellow close to the bottom left of the home page. The Photo Essay needs to be viewed in conjucntion with my post and subsequent thread at http://forum.oes.org/viewtopic.php?t=2074 where we discuss the mechanism and tools of ear care. Thanks and Cheers Carl |
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| Thanks for the wonderful information Carl!
Me being someone who recently took over full grooming duties on both of my dogs this info helps a lot. |
| Wow! I thought I was cleaning my sheepies' ears but now I see clearly that there is alot more to do. . .
Thanks so much. That is very helpful! |
| Carl,
Thanks ever so much. Sam has been keeping an ear infection but I see I am just not doing a thorough enough job. Thanks again. |
Good stuff, Carl! You've, once again, shown me how inadequate my skills are.  Just kidding, thanks for the essay-- it really was very helpful! |
Great job  |
Ha Ha! I just went on today to search for this post! Nice timing!  |
| You are such a good person to take the time to share your knowledge and guidance with everyone. Many thanks from me and Saffron. |
| All,
Thank you all for the positive replies to my ear cleaning essay. Michele is every bit an equal partner in helping with the photographs and putting this onto our website. Quote: You are such a good person to take the time to share your knowledge and guidance with everyone.
I truly love the Bobtail, both as a breed and individual dogs and so "sharing knowledge and experience" is all in their support. Don't take that the wrong way, most Bobtail parents are pretty good too! If I can help new owners or those taking on more responsibility for the care and custody of their furkids then I most certainly will. I would have appreciated more help and guidance when I was first "in the breed" so now if I have the chance to give back to the breed and breed community I try to do so. You see many years ago when I first got Punk I was like some here, inexperienced in the breed and essentially without breeder help or guidance. Fortunately our family knew a few people in the local kennel club - mostly Afghan people - who were willing to help us along. Bit by bit I learned how to "properly" care for both of our Afghans and by extension Punk, regarding proper grooming, bathing, ear care, etc, etc. Even today I am still learning and am still helped enourmous amounts by breeders, other exhibitors and breed knowledgeable people, sometimes here, sometimes at shows, sometimes by direct e-mail or telephone calls. If I can share and readily help others with such tasks then their dogs will be the better for it and the breed will have an opportunity to flourish with knowledgeable and devoted parents. I ask only two simple things in return for my thoughts and help, such as it may be. First is that you follow the cautions I give in my posts - in this case about getting a vet or pro-groomer show you how deep into the ear canal you clean for the sake of the Bobtail's safety - and second that you share these resources/your knowledge when asked by other prospective Bobtail parents. This is not an easy breed compared to some of the more common, short-coated, erect-eared, tailed breeds. Bobtails take a lot of time - you don't want to know my grooming hours this weekend -, devotion, care and understanding for the dog to thrive BUT when they do thrive they give so much more in return. To me they are truly one of the great joys of life. Thanks and Cheers Carl |
| Carl, have a question for you. I thoroughly removed all of the hair out of only one of Frank's ears one day and got distracted. I used a medicated ear cleaner, not your recipe in both ears. I really haven't gotten back to pulling all of the hair out of the other ear yet & here's why: The ear I plucked has become a wax factory. I mean a lot of wax! There is no sign of infection or anything. The other ear with some hair only has the usual mild wax build-up. Why do you think that is? More air getting in to churn it up? I can't help thinking I over did it a little on the ear pluck. I have plucked hair out before, but this time I removed every little bit of it. |
| Verve-up,
In my thread-opening post I state that the photo-essay on our site should be used in conjunction with my initial ear-cleaning post, now some two years old. I included the thread link. In that post I have said: Quote: Not all the hair can be removed, so don't expect the canal to be totally bald! Some, probably most, hairs are dead or broken and come out readily, some are of “questionable health” and may or may not come while a small amount will be healthy and not come out without excessive grip and plucking force (I estimate 15-20%). This is why I predominantly discourage the use of haemostats (forceps) or tweezers. I do have them and have used them on rare occasions, especially for the deeper areas I can’t reach well because of the size of my fingers. But using these tools does bother my boys even though I can only grasp a few hairs with them compared to 10-20 when done manually. Clearly the extra grip afforded by mechanical tools results in the plucking of healthy hair that was not ready to come out, thus hurting them . It is also this tearing out of healthy hair which leaves the follicle site exposed and, I believe, it is this “injury” in addition to scratches cautioned above which often leads to the ear infection some people are experiencing.
The ear canal itself requires some hair to help exclude the foreign debris and protect the eardrum and ear canal membranes, hence why there is hair in the first place. It is a "balancing act" to determine what amount of plucking works best for your individual dog. In this case I think that you have "overshot" and the dog's metabolism has responded by forming more wax than usual to protect the exposed hair follicles. Next time reduce how much hair you have plucked out, see how Frank's ears react and use that as a guide for subsequent plucking (do you need even less or somewhat more plucking than in session 2). It shouldn't take more than 3 or 4 sessions to find out what is the proper balance for you own dog. What is a good balance for my dogs will not necessarily be good for Frank (in fact my dogs vary one to another); what is good for Frank will not necessarily be right for another dog and so on. Also do not use hemostats or tweezers unless absolutely necessary. Since I posted about our photo-essay I have had discussions with one of our dog's breeders and it was pointed out that as we age and suffer the effects of arthritis etc., it can often become difficult, if not impossible, to pluck ear hair by hand. In those cases then tweezers and haemostats are clearly going to be required. However when using these tools be very gentle and sensitive to how much force you are using to pluck the hair. Go slowly and feel for resistance. If the hair takes any noticable amount of "tug" then stop and leave it. When gripped with a tweezers or haemostat the dead and broken hair should offer virtually no resistance to plucking. Hope this helps. Carl |
| Wow - I learned so much from this. On a scale of 1-10 I was a minus 2 ear cleaner! I also never thought to ask the vet to show me how to clean properly. This comes in handy as Tasha and I are off to the vet now for third puppy shot! |
| Wow,I wish I had seen all this years ago.With our last OES,the vet told me hemastats were no longer recommended and I have been cleaning our OES ears with them forever,since being shown how my the first breeder in the 70's,now I understand what the vet was trying to explain.My future OES thanks you,I thank you,ear cleaning is the one niggle I have never managed to iron out to my own satisfaction,even after having 6 OES over 35 years.I feel like I know "the secret" finally. |
| Hi Carl,
thanks for your thorough ear cleaning info. My vet showed my how to pluck and clean a dog's ear; and I must say I was totally freaked out. I NEVER in my wildest imagination would have thought it was safe to clean that far into a dog's ear. My vet laughed at the look of horror on my face when he started cleaning my dog's ear. So based on my experience I think you are bang on the money when you suggest that its an area that most of us novice's need some (lots of) help in. My vet also suggested that I wash my hands when changing from one ear to the next to prevent cross contamination of any ear bacteria. Do you think this is necessary if the dog has no ear infection or is just going over board? Miriam PS see antics for my latest ear cleaning adventure |
| Thanks so much for all this info. I realize now that I am barely cleaning my dogs ears. No wonder Sophie is getting infections!
Thanks again. I will definately try this. I can only imagine how difficult it will be in the beginning to keep them still, but I can see now why it is so necessary. |
Thanks for all the info, it works great. The only problem I had was getting my 7 month old puppy to hold still long enough. She wanted to play and eat the cotton balls and q-tips. So I learned if I do her grooming late at night ( around 11 or 12 at night ) she is so worn out from running and playing all day, that she will just lay there and pretty much let me do whatever I want to her. I can even roll her from side to side and she doesnt even open an eye. And since I don't sleep well at night this helps me relax and sleep better as well. So its a win win for both of us.  |
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